Boeing 787 Dreamliner test flight set for Saturday

CHICAGO, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Boeing Co said it will conduct a test flight of its grounded 787 Dreamliner on Saturday to collect more data on potential faults in the aircraft’s lithium-ion batteries.

The 50 Dreamliners in commercial service were grounded worldwide on Jan. 16, after a series of battery related incidents, including a fire on board a parked 787 in Boston’s Logan Airport and an in-flight problem on another plane in Japan.

The groundings have cost airlines tens of millions of dollars, with no solution yet in sight.

The test flight on ZA005, a Boeing 787 test plane, was scheduled to operate out of Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington. The flight was scheduled to depart at about 12:45 p.m. Pacific time (3:45 ET) but that is subject to change, the company said.

The flight plan can be viewed at:

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Thursday it would allow 787 test flights, under more stringent rules, to monitor the batteries in flight.